By Hadassa Ferreira, Contributing Writer
From Sept 17 to Sept 24, 2022, the Dade City Center for the Arts hosted their annual Art Walk, which featured 22 local businesses and artists presenting their work to the community.
The walk’s main objective was to educate people on the artistic environment, local history, and personalities that dwell in Dade City.
“We were thinking of a way to bring together the small businesses and artists and to get people to walk the town,” says Jasmine Elizabeth, the organizer of the Art Walk.
The Art Walk was also a fantastic opportunity for people to learn about Dade City’s diverse art community. An example would be one of the artists presented, Jayde Archbold. Coming from a multicultural background, Jayde likes to search for international cultural elements to compose her paintings.
“I like to look at different countries and see the colors, the text styles, and the patterns that each culture uses and see what makes it unique,” says Archbold.
Another feature of the Art Walk was Dade City Candy, Comics, and Collectibles. This is a shop that sells all types of comics, magazines, posters, and funky pop toys. The best part is that all these elements are present in artist Joel Hernandez’s work. He uses the store as inspiration for his paintings- bright, explosive colors and fun patterns.
“Dade City has been supportive in accepting my style because it is a little bit different, just like me,” says Hernandez.
He feels like Dade City is a great place to showcase his artwork because of all the great reviews. “I have put my artwork in other places, but I never have as much positive feedback as I do here.”
Another artist that was part of the event was Kait Selbert. By using local plants and flowers in her artwork, she feels very inspired by the city around her. Her work was exhibited in front of a store called Magnolia and Ash. The aesthetic of the store is innovative and welcoming, equal to Kait’s artistic work.
The shop’s owner, Ashley Austin, said she feels that Dade City’s community is getting inspired by events like the Art Walk.
“It’s cool because there are people who have been in the city for years and years, and they are extremely excited about the new generation’s creativity,” says Austin.
To conclude, Dade City’s community is very engaged in art and in creation. The Art Walk, for sure, shows that. There were more than 20 artists with life backgrounds and experiences to share and another 20 businesses that had many innovative things to present.
The Dade City Center for the Arts hopes to have many more pop-up events like this in the future and invites everyone in the local community to come to participate, including the students at Saint Leo University.
